Monday, June 22, 2015

prayer for Dylann Roof

Spirit of Life,
People are angry. They should be angry.
People feel guilty. They should feel guilty.
But people are scared and they shouldn't be, not when we have so much possibility.
Help us crack open our hearts and let that in.
Dylann Roof, I lit a candle for you today.
You've seen the pain and the fear you brought people
And they forgive you anyway. May that split your heart.
Spirit of Life,
Help the rest of us, if not to forgive, then not to hate so much.
Allow the righteous anger at injustice
And the palliative of understanding to do our public talking
And bring us some peace. People want some peace.
Not the false peace of the way things are but the real peace of how they should be.
Bring us shoulder to shoulder in building the life we know we're capable of.
Remind us, in the midst of our fear, that we're better than our fear.
Spirit of Life,
We are the children of this world and we are the only ones
Standing between us and beloved community. Help us
Get out of our own way.

Friday, June 19, 2015

another list that tears my heart

I am becoming tired of writing about these things, these public murders that lacerate our discourse and give a lie to the belief that we can improve and we can love one another. This short essay, by Charles Pierce, appearing in the online version of a magazine I've long presumed irrelevant, says something I wish I could. I can only grieve. Again.